China strengthens pharmaceutical management and medical ethics

The National Health Commission, in collaboration with several other authorities, has jointly released a directive aimed at strengthening the management of pharmaceutical purchases and sales, as well as improving medical ethics in healthcare services.

The document, which was made public on Friday, mandates that medical institutions assume primary responsibility for managing medical ethics and the professional conduct of their staff by enhancing daily education and professional development.

The directive stresses that actions violating medical ethics, harming public interests, patient rights, or the industry's reputation will not be tolerated, with strict measures to be taken against medical staff involved.

It also addresses the regulation of online diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing that service providers must have proper qualifications.

It calls for strong supervision of "online medical care", such as cracking down on the illegal dissemination of medical advertisements and activities that exploit medical science or conferences for profit. This includes falsifying or fabricating videos featuring current or retired industry professionals for marketing purposes.

Additionally, it stresses the importance of improving internal management within medical institutions, requiring the establishment of robust internal control systems, and a risk warning and control mechanism to increase efforts in holding accountable those responsible for violations.

Efforts must be made to prevent the resurgence of irregularities in the industry, and to address new, variant, and hidden issues in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, while regulatory priorities are also required to focus on areas such as drugs, high-value medical consumables, medical equipment, infrastructure, and information technology project bidding, as well as logistics services.

Key processes such as sample outsourcing, prescription dispensing, project approval and fund utilization will continue to be standardized, it says, adding that administrative law enforcement and judicial case handling efforts will be strengthened moving forward.